RC.CONF(5) NetBSD File Formats Manual RC.CONF(5)
NAMErc.conf -- system startup configuration file
DESCRIPTION
The rc.conf file specifies which services are enabled during system
startup by the startup scripts invoked by /etc/rc (see rc(8)), and the
shutdown scripts invoked by /etc/rc.shutdown. The rc.conf file is a
shell script that is sourced by rc(8), meaning that rc.conf must contain
valid shell commands.
Listed below are the standard rc.conf variables that may be set, the val-
ues to which each may be set, a brief description of what each variable
does, and a reference to relevant manual pages. Third party packages may
test for additional variables.
Most variables are one of two types: enabling variables or flags vari-
ables. Enabling variables, such as inetd, are generally named after the
program or the system they enable, and are set to `YES' or `NO'. Flags
variables, such as inetd_flags have the same name with "_flags" appended,
and determine what arguments are passed to the program if it is enabled.
If a variable that rc(8) expects to be set is not set, or the value is
not one of the allowed values, a warning will be printed.
By default, rc.conf reads /etc/defaults/rc.conf (if it is readable) to
obtain default values for various variables, and the end-user may over-
ride these by appending appropriate entries to the end of rc.conf.
rc.d(8) scripts that use load_rc_config from rc.subr(8) also support
sourcing an optional end-user provided per-script override file
/etc/rc.conf.d/service, (where service is the contents of the name vari-
able in the rc.d(8) script). This may contain variable overrides,
including allowing the end-user to override various run_rc_commandrc.d(8) control variables, and thus changing the operation of the script
without requiring editing of the script.
Overall controldo_rcshutdown `YES' or `NO'. If set to `NO', shutdown(8) will not run
/etc/rc.shutdown.
rcshutdown_rcorder_flags
A string. Extra arguments to the rcorder(8) run by
/etc/rc.shutdown.
rcshutdown_timeout
A number. If non-blank, use this as the number of sec-
onds to run a watchdog timer for which will terminate
/etc/rc.shutdown if the timer expires before the shutdown
script completes.
rc_configured `YES' or `NO'. If not set to `YES' then the system will
drop into single-user mode during boot.
rc_fast_and_loose
If set to a non-empty string, each script in /etc/rc.d
will be executed in the current shell rather than a sub
shell. This may be faster on slow machines that have an
expensive fork(2) operation.
Note: Use this at your own risk! A rogue command or
script may inadvertently prevent boot to multi-
user.
rc_rcorder_flags
A string. Extra arguments to the rcorder(8) run by
/etc/rc.
Basic network configurationdefaultroute A string. Default IPv4 network route. If empty or not
set, then the contents of /etc/mygate (if it exists) are
used.
defaultroute6 A string. Default IPv6 network route. If empty or not
set, then the contents of /etc/mygate6 (if it exists) are
used.
domainname A string. NIS (YP) domain of host. If empty or not set,
then the contents of /etc/defaultdomain (if it exists)
are used.
force_down_interfaces
A space separated list of interface names. These inter-
faces will be configured down when going from multiuser
to singleuser mode or on system shutdown.
This is important for some stateful interfaces, for exam-
ple PPP over ISDN connections that cost money by connec-
tion time or PPPoE interfaces which have no direct means
of noticing ``disconnect'' events.
All active pppoe(4) and ippp(4) interfaces will be auto-
matically added to this list.
hostname A string. Name of host. If empty or not set, then the
contents of /etc/myname (if it exists) are used.
Boottime file-system and swap configurationcritical_filesystems_local
A string. File systems mounted very early in the system
boot before networking services are available. Usually
/var is part of this, because it is needed by services
such as dhclient(8) which may be required to get the net-
work operational.
critical_filesystems_remote
A string. File systems such as /usr that may require
network services to be available to mount, that must be
available early in the system boot for general services
to use.
fsck_flags A string. A file system is checked with fsck(8) during
boot before mounting it. This option may be used to
override the default command-line options passed to the
fsck(8) program.
When set to -y, fsck(8) assumes yes as the answer to all
operator questions during file system checks. This might
be important with hosts where the administrator does not
have access to the console and an unsuccessful shutdown
must not make the host unbootable even if the file system
checks would fail in preen mode.
no_swap `YES' or `NO'. Set the no_swap variable to `YES' if you
have configured your system with no swap on purpose. If
not set to `YES', and no swap devices are configured, the
system will warn you.
swapoff `YES' or `NO'. Remove block-type swap devices at shut-
down time. Useful if swapping onto RAIDframe devices.
One-time actions to perform or programs to run on boot-upaccounting `YES' or `NO'. Enables process accounting with
accton(8). Requires /var/account/acct to exist.
clear_tmp `YES' or `NO'. Clear /tmp after reboot.
dmesg `YES' or `NO'. Create /var/run/dmesg.boot from the out-
put of dmesg(8). Passes dmesg_flags.
lkm `YES' or `NO'. Runs /etc/rc.lkm.
mixerctl `YES' or `NO'. Read mixerctl.conf(5) for how to set
mixer values. List in mixerctl_mixers the devices whose
settings are to be saved at shutdown and restored at
start-up.
newsyslog `YES' or `NO'. Run newsyslog to trim logfiles before
syslogd starts. Intended for laptop users. Passes
newsyslog_flags.
per_user_tmp `YES' or `NO'. Enables a per-user /tmp directory.
per_user_tmp_dir can be used to override the default
location of the ``real'' temporary directories,
``/private/tmp''.
rndctl `YES' or `NO'. Runs the rndctl(8) utility one or more
times according to the specification in rndctl_flags.
If rndctl_flags does not contain a semicolon (`;') then
it is expected to contain zero or more flags, followed by
one or more device or type names. The rndctl(8) command
will be executed once for each device or type name. If
the specified flags do not include any of -c, -C, -e, or
-E, then the flags -c and -e are added, to specify that
entropy from the relevant device or type should be both
collected and estimated. If the specified flags do not
include either of -d or -t, then the flag -d is added, to
specify that the non-flag arguments are device names, not
type names.
rndctl_flags may contain multiple semicolon-separated
segments, in which each segment contains flags and device
or type names as described above. This allows different
flags to be associated with different device or type
names. For example, given rndctl_flags="wd0 wd1; -t tty;
-c -t net", the following commands will be executed:
rndctl -c -e -d wd0; rndctl -c -e -d wd1; rndctl -c -e -t
tty; rndctl -c -t net.
savecore `YES' or `NO'. Runs the savecore(8) utility. Passes
savecore_flags. The directory where crash dumps are
stored is specified by savecore_dir. The default setting
is ``/var/crash''.
tpctl `YES' or `NO'. Run tpctl(8) to calibrate touch panel
device. Passes tpctl_flags.
update_motd `YES' or `NO'. Updates the NetBSD version string in the
/etc/motd file to reflect the version of the running ker-
nel. See motd(5).
veriexec `YES' or `NO'. Load Veriexec fingerprints during
startup. Read veriexecctl(8) for more information.
virecover `YES' or `NO'. Send notification mail to users if any
recoverable files exist in /var/tmp/vi.recover. Read
virecover(8) for more information.
System security settingsecurelevel A number. The system securelevel is set to the specified
value early in the boot process, before any external
logins, or other programs that run users job, are
started. If set to nothing, the default action is taken,
as described in init(8) and secmodel_securelevel(9),
which contains definitive information about the system
securelevel. Note that setting securelevel to 0 in
rc.conf will actually result in the system booting with
securelevel set to 1, as init(8) will raise the level
when rc(8) completes.
permit_nonalpha
Allow passwords to include non-alpha characters, usually
to allow NIS/YP netgroups.
veriexec_strict
A number. Controls the strict level of Veriexec. Level
0 is learning mode, used when building the signatures
file. It will only output messages but will not enforce
anything. Level 1 will only prevent access to files with
a fingerprint mismatch. Level 2 will also deny writing
to and removing of monitored files, as well as enforce
access type (as specified in the signatures file). Level
3 will take a step further and prevent access to files
that are not monitored.
veriexec_verbose
A number. Controls the verbosity of Veriexec. Recom-
mended operation is at level 0, verbose output (mostly
used when building the signatures file) is at level 1.
Level 2 is for debugging only and should not be used.
veriexec_flags A string. Flags to pass to the veriexecctl command.
Networking startupaltqd `YES' or `NO'. ALTQ configuration/monitoring daemon.
Passes altqd_flags.
auto_ifconfig `YES' or `NO'. Sets the net_interfaces variable (see
below) to the output of ifconfig(8) with the ``-l'' flag
and suppresses warnings about interfaces in this list
that do not have an ifconfig file or variable.
dhclient `YES' or `NO'. Set to `YES' to configure some or all
network interfaces using the ISC DHCP client. If you set
dhclient to `YES', you must either have /var in
critical_filesystems_local, as part of /, or direct the
DHCP client to store the leases file on the root file
system by modifying the dhclient_flags variable. You
must not provide ifconfig information or ifaliases infor-
mation for any interface that is to be configured using
the DHCP client. Interface aliases can be set up in the
DHCP client configuration file if needed - see
dhclient.conf(5) for details.
Passes dhclient_flags to the DHCP client. See
dhclient(8) for complete documentation. If you wish to
configure all broadcast network interfaces using the DHCP
client, you can leave this blank. To configure only spe-
cific interfaces, name the interfaces to be configured on
the command line.
If you must run the DHCP client before mounting critical
file systems, then you should specify an alternate loca-
tion for the DHCP client's lease file in the
dhclient_flags variable - for example, "-lf
/tmp/dhclient.leases".
dhcpcd_flags Additional arguments to pass to dhcpcd(8) when requesting
configuration via ifconfig_xxN or /etc/ifconfig.xxN.
flushroutes `YES' or `NO'. Flushes the route table on networking
startup. Useful when coming up to multiuser mode after
going down to single-user mode.
hostapd `YES' or `NO'. Runs hostapd(8), the authenticator for
IEEE 802.11 networks.
ifaliases_* A string. List of `address netmask' pairs to configure
additional network addresses for the given configured
interface ``*'' (e.g. ifaliases_le0). If netmask is
``-'', then use the default netmask for the interface.
ifaliases_* covers limited cases only and considered
unrecommended. We recommend using ifconfig_nnX variables
or /etc/ifconfig.xxN files with multiple lines instead.
ifwatchd `YES' or `NO'. Monitor dynamic interfaces and perform
actions upon address changes. Passes ifwatchd_flags.
ip6mode A string. An IPv6 node can be a router (nodes that
forward packet for others) or a host (nodes that do not
forward). A host can be autoconfigured based on the
information advertised by adjacent IPv6 routers. By set-
ting ip6mode to ``router'', ``host'', or ``autohost'',
you can configure your node as a router, a non-autocon-
figured host, or an autoconfigured host. Invalid values
will be ignored, and the node will be configured as a
non-autoconfigured host. You may want to check rtsol and
rtsold as well, if you set the variable to ``autohost''.
ip6uniquelocal `YES' or `NO'. If ip6mode is equal to ``router'' and
ip6uniquelocal is set to `NO' a reject route will be
installed on boot to avoid misconfiguration relating to
unique-local addresses. If set to `YES' the reject route
won't be installed.
ipfilter `YES' or `NO'. Runs ipf(8) to load in packet filter
specifications from /etc/ipf.conf at network boot time,
before any interfaces are configured. Passes
ipfilter_flags. See ipf.conf(5).
ipfs `YES' or `NO'. Runs ipfs(8) to save and restore informa-
tion for ipnat and ipfilter state tables. The informa-
tion is stored in /var/db/ipf/ipstate.ipf and
/var/db/ipf/ipnat.ipf. Passes ipfs_flags.
ipmon `YES' or `NO'. Runs ipmon(8) to read ipf(8) packet log
information and log it to a file or the system log.
Passes ipmon_flags.
ipmon_flags A string. Specifies arguments to supply to ipmon(8).
Defaults to ``-ns''. A typical example would be ``-nD/var/log/ipflog'' to have ipmon(8) log directly to a file
bypassing syslogd(8). If the ``-D'' argument is used,
remember to modify /etc/newsyslog.conf accordingly; for
example:
/var/log/ipflog 640 10 100 * Z /var/run/ipmon.pid
ipnat `YES' or `NO'. Runs ipnat(8) to load in the IP network
address translation (NAT) rules from /etc/ipnat.conf at
network boot time, before any interfaces are configured.
See ipnat.conf(5).
ipsec `YES' or `NO'. Runs setkey(8) to load in IPsec manual
keys and policies from /etc/ipsec.conf at network boot
time, before any interfaces are configured.
net_interfaces A string. The list of network interfaces to be config-
ured at boot time. For each interface "xxN", the system
first looks for ifconfig parameters in the variable
ifconfig_xxN, and then in the file /etc/ifconfig.xxN. If
auto_ifconfig is set to "NO" and neither the file nor the
variable is found, a warning is printed. Information in
either the variable or the file is parsed identically,
except that, if an ifconfig_xxN variable contains a sin-
gle line with embedded semicolons, then the value is
split into multiple lines prior to further parsing,
treating the semicolon as a line separator. One common
case it to set ifconfig_xxN="dhcp", which will cause
dhcpcd(8) to be started for the interface. Another com-
mon case it to set the ifconfig_xxN variable to a set of
arguments to be passed to an ifconfig(8) command after
the interface name. Refer to ifconfig.if(5) for more
details on /etc/ifconfig.xxN files, and note that the
information there also applies to ifconfig_xxN variables
(after the variables are split into lines).
ntpdate `YES' or `NO'. Runs ntpdate(8) to set the system time
from one of the hosts in ntpdate_hosts. If ntpdate_hosts
is empty, it will attempt to find a list of hosts in
/etc/ntp.conf. Passes ntpdate_flags.
pf `YES' or `NO'. Enable pf(4) at network boot time: Load
the initial configuration pf.boot.conf(5) before the net-
work is up. After the network has been configured, then
load the final ruleset pf.conf(5).
pf_rules A string. The path of the pf.conf(5) ruleset that will
be used when loading the final ruleset.
pflogd `YES' or `NO'. Run pflogd(8) for dumping packet filter
logging information to a file.
ppp_peers A string. If ppp_peers is not empty, then /etc/rc.d/ppp
will check each word in ppp_peers for a corresponding ppp
configuration file in /etc/ppp/peers and will call
pppd(8) with the ``call peer'' option.
racoon `YES' or `NO'. Runs racoon(8), the IKE (ISAKMP/Oakley)
key management daemon.
rtsol `YES' or `NO'. Run rtsol(8), router solicitation command
for IPv6 hosts. On nomadic hosts like notebook comput-
ers, you may want to enable rtsold as well. Passes
rtsol_flags. This is only for autoconfigured IPv6 hosts,
so set ip6mode to ``autohost'' if you use it.
wpa_supplicant `YES' or `NO'. Run wpa_supplicant(8), WPA/802.11i Sup-
plicant for wireless network devices.
Daemons required by other daemonsinetd `YES' or `NO'. Runs the inetd(8) daemon to start network
server processes (as listed in /etc/inetd.conf) as neces-
sary. Passes inetd_flags. The ``-l'' flag turns on lib-
wrap connection logging.
rpcbind `YES' or `NO'. The rpcbind(8) daemon is required for any
rpc(3) services. These include NFS, NIS, bootparamd(8),
rstatd(8), rusersd(8), and rwalld(8). Passes
rpcbind_flags.
Commonly used daemonscron `YES' or `NO'. Run cron(8).
httpd `YES' or `NO'. Runs httpd(8) daemon and passes
httpd_flags.
httpd_wwwdir A string. The httpd(8) WWW root directory. Used only if
httpd is set to `YES'. The default setting is
``/var/www''.
httpd_wwwuser A string. If non-blank and httpd is `YES', run httpd(8)
and cause it to switch to the specified user and the
groups of the user after initialization. It is preferred
to httpd_user because httpd(8) is requiring extra privi-
leges to start listen on default port 80. The default
setting is ``_httpd''.
lpd `YES' or `NO'. Runs lpd(8) and passes lpd_flags. The
``-l'' flag will turn on extra logging.
named `YES' or `NO'. Runs named(8) and passes named_flags.
named_chrootdir
A string. If non-blank and named is `YES', run named(8)
as the unprivileged user and group `named', chroot(2)ed
to named_chrootdir. named_chrootdir/var/run/log will be
added to the list of log sockets that syslogd(8) listens
to.
ntpd `YES' or `NO'. Runs ntpd(8) and passes ntpd_flags.
ntpd_chrootdir A string. If non-blank and ntpd is `YES', run ntpd(8) as
the unprivileged user and group `ntpd', chroot(2)ed to
ntpd_chrootdir. ntpd_chrootdir/var/run/log will be added
to the list of log sockets that syslogd(8) listens to.
This option requires that the kernel has
pseudo-device clockctl
compiled in, and that /dev/clockctl is present.
postfix `YES' or `NO'. Starts postfix(1) mail system.
sshd `YES' or `NO'. Runs sshd(8) and passes sshd_flags.
syslogd `YES' or `NO'. Runs syslogd(8) and passes syslogd_flags.
timed `YES' or `NO'. Runs timed(8) and passes timed_flags.
The ``-M'' option allows timed(8) to be a master time
source as well as a slave. If you are also running
ntpd(8), only one machine running both should have the
``-M'' flag given to timed(8).
Routing daemonsmrouted `YES' or `NO'. Runs mrouted(8), the DVMRP multicast
routing protocol daemon. Passes mrouted_flags.
route6d `YES' or `NO'. Runs route6d(8), the RIPng routing proto-
col daemon for IPv6. Passes route6d_flags.
routed `YES' or `NO'. Runs routed(8), the RIP routing protocol
daemon. Passes routed_flags.
rtsold `YES' or `NO'. Runs rtsold(8), the IPv6 router solicita-
tion daemon. rtsold(8) periodically transmits router
solicitation packets to find IPv6 routers on the network.
This configuration is mainly for nomadic hosts like note-
book computers. Stationary hosts should work fine with
just rtsol. Passes rtsold_flags. This is only for auto-
configured IPv6 hosts, so set ip6mode to ``autohost'' if
you use it.
Daemons used to boot other hosts over a networkbootparamd `YES' or `NO'. Runs bootparamd(8), the boot parameter
server, with bootparamd_flags as options. Used to boot
NetBSD and SunOS 4.x systems.
dhcpd `YES' or `NO'. Runs dhcpd(8), the Dynamic Host Configu-
ration Protocol (DHCP) daemon, for assigning IP addresses
to hosts and passing boot information. Passes
dhcpd_flags.
dhcrelay `YES' or `NO'. Runs dhcrelay(8). Passes dhcrelay_flags.
mopd `YES' or `NO'. Runs mopd(8), the DEC MOP protocol dae-
mon; used for booting VAX and other DEC machines. Passes
mopd_flags.
ndbootd `YES' or `NO'. Runs ndbootd(8), the Sun Network Disk
(ND) Protocol server. Passes ndbootd_flags.
rarpd `YES' or `NO'. Runs rarpd(8), the reverse ARP daemon,
often used to boot NetBSD and Sun workstations. Passes
rarpd_flags.
rbootd `YES' or `NO'. Runs rbootd(8), the HP boot protocol dae-
mon; used for booting HP workstations. Passes
rbootd_flags.
rtadvd `YES' or `NO'. Runs rtadvd(8), the IPv6 router adver-
tisement daemon, which is used to advertise information
about the subnet to IPv6 end hosts. Passes rtadvd_flags.
This is only for IPv6 routers, so set ip6mode to
``router'' if you use it.
X Window System daemonsxdm `YES' or `NO'. Runs the xdm(1) X display manager. These
X daemons are available only with the optional X distri-
bution of NetBSD.
xfs `YES' or `NO'. Runs the xfs(1) X11 font server, which
supplies local X font files to X terminals.
NIS (YP) daemonsypbind `YES' or `NO'. Runs ypbind(8), which lets NIS (YP)
clients use information from a NIS server. Passes
ypbind_flags.
yppasswdd `YES' or `NO'. Runs yppasswdd(8), which allows remote
NIS users to update password on master server. Passes
yppasswdd_flags.
ypserv `YES' or `NO'. Runs ypserv(8), the NIS (YP) server for
distributing information from certain files in /etc.
Passes ypserv_flags. The ``-d'' flag causes it to use
DNS for lookups in /etc/hosts that fail.
NFS daemons and parametersamd `YES' or `NO'. Runs amd(8), the automounter daemon,
which automatically mounts NFS file systems whenever a
file or directory within that file system is accessed.
Passes amd_flags.
amd_dir A string. The amd(8) mount directory. Used only if amd
is set to `YES'.
lockd `YES' or `NO'. Runs rpc.lockd(8) if nfs_server and/or
nfs_client are set to `YES'. Passes lockd_flags.
mountd `YES' or `NO'. Runs mountd(8) and passes mountd_flags.
nfs_client `YES' or `NO'. The number of local NFS asynchronous I/O
server is now controlled via sysctl(8).
nfs_server `YES' or `NO'. Sets up a host to be a NFS server by run-
ning nfsd(8) and passing nfsd_flags.
statd `YES' or `NO'. Runs rpc.statd(8), a status monitoring
daemon used when rpc.lockd(8) is running, if nfs_server
and/or nfs_client are set to `YES'. Passes statd_flags.
Bluetooth configuration and daemonsbtattach `YES' or `NO'. Attach serial bluetooth interfaces as
listed in the configuration file
/etc/bluetooth/btdevctl.conf.
btconfig `YES' or `NO'. Configure bluetooth devices. If the
btconfig_devices variable below is not specified, all
devices known to the system will be configured. For each
device, configuration arguments are first looked for in
the btconfig_{dev} variable, otherwise the value of the
btconfig_args variable will be used, and if that is not
specified the default string is `enable'.
btconfig_devices
An optional space separated list of bluetooth devices to
be configured at boot time.
btconfig_args An optional string, containing default arguments for
bluetooth devices to be configured.
btdevctl `YES' or `NO'. Configure Bluetooth devices as listed in
the configuration file /etc/bluetooth/btdevctl.conf.
bthcid `YES' or `NO'. Runs bthcid(8), the Bluetooth HCI daemon,
which manages link keys and PIN codes for Bluetooth
links. Passes bthcid_flags.
sdpd `YES' or `NO'. Runs the Service Discovery Profile dae-
mon, sdpd(8). Passes sdpd_flags.
Other daemonsisdnd `YES' or `NO'. Runs isdnd(8), the isdn4bsd ISDN connec-
tion management daemon. Passes isdnd_flags.
isdn_autoupdown
`YES' or `NO'. Set all configured ISDN interfaces to
``up''. If isdn_interfaces is not blank, only the listed
interfaces will be modified. Used only if isdnd is set
to `YES'.
kdc `YES' or `NO'. Runs the kdc(8) Kerberos v4 and v5
server. This should be run on Kerberos master and slave
servers.
rwhod `YES' or `NO'. Runs rwhod(8) to support the rwho(1) and
ruptime(1) commands.
Hardware daemonsapmd `YES' or `NO'. Runs apmd(8) and passes apmd_flags.
irdaattach `YES' or `NO'. Runs irdaattach(8) and passes
irdaattach_flags.
moused `YES' or `NO'. Runs moused(8), to pass serial mouse data
to the wscons mouse mux. Passes moused_flags.
poffd `YES' or `NO'. Runs poffd(8) x68k shutdown daemon (only
for NetBSD/x68k). Passes poffd_flags.
screenblank `YES' or `NO'. Runs screenblank(1) and passes
screenblank_flags.
wscons `YES' or `NO'. Configures the wscons(4) console driver,
from the configuration file /etc/wscons.conf.
wsmoused `YES' or `NO'. Runs wsmoused(8), to provide copy and
paste text support in wscons displays. Passes
wsmoused_flags.
FILES
/etc/rc.conf The file rc.conf resides in /etc.
/etc/defaults/rc.conf Default settings for rc.conf, sourced by rc.conf
before the end-user configuration section.
/etc/rc.conf.d/foo foo-specific rc.conf overrides.
SEE ALSOboot(8), rc(8), rc.d(8), rc.subr(8), rcorder(8)HISTORY
The rc.conf file appeared in NetBSD 1.3.
NetBSD 5.0.1 March 27, 2009 NetBSD 5.0.1

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